POWDER SPRINGS - Those who attended District 4 County Commissioner Woody Thompson's town hall meeting Monday night echoed the same concerns that were expressed last week, when hundreds of angry residents swamped a county meeting on flood updates.

However, the roughly 300 people who gathered Monday night in the Ron Anderson Recreation Center near Powder Springs were far more subdued.

"I know this has been a really tough time for you - probably one of the worst things that has ever happened to you," said Thompson, who represents south Cobb.

Residents questioned Cobb officials on reassessing the flood plain and home buyouts, among other topics.

Ken Hawkins, who lives on Glory Drive in Austell, said he believes development was a key component to the flooding.

"Do you not think that commissioners need to look at this and see if this could be adding to our water problem? There's nowhere for the water to go. When I had my house built in '96, you all said our house, like everybody's house, was fine," he said. "Now you come back to some of these homes and tell them they need to jack their houses up three feet to rebuild. Why should we have to do that unless something has changed?"

The county may buy 22 of the 85 homes in unincorporated Cobb that were substantially damaged, said Bill Higgins, manager of Cobb's Stormwater Management. Grants to purchase the homes may not be available until the summer, however.

"I don't think we'll see any money coming out of this grant until this summer. At this time, they'll only be looking at homes substantially damaged in the 100-year flood plain," Higgins said. "Of the 85 homes that were substantially damaged, about half of those were outside of the 100-year floodplain. So we'll have to find another program to address those houses, but it's my intent to address all of them."

Higgins said he intends to buy out all of the substantially damaged homes using a Georgia Emergency Management Agency grant. The buyouts don't apply to the roughly 600 homes in unincorporated Cobb that were damaged, but not substantially, nor will the buyouts apply to the approximately 700 homes damaged in the city of Austell. It is unclear how much money will be available.

"Even though the county has done this in the past, the county is under no legal obligation to buy anybody out," Higgins said. "We feel we have a moral obligation to buy out the homes that were substantially damaged," he said. "As much as I would like to buy out all of them, I can't."

Meantime, Thompson said the county is doing what it can to help residents affected by the flood. Commissioners are expected to approve waiving the fees for a renovation permit through Dec. 31 for flood-related rebuilding. The fee for that permit is $4.50 per $1,000 of expected work. A $40,000 project would normally require a $180 permit fee.

GEMA and Federal Emergency Management Agency representatives, along with county officials, were at Monday night's meeting to answer questions about rebuilding.

"There's still going to be some tough questions for people to answer as to whether or not they're going to rebuild," Thompson said.